"He taught you that this is a profession now and you've got to be serious about it," he said. "And for young players he was kinda just what you needed."

After leaving the Niners, Green moved on to Stanford, becoming the first African American head coach on The Farm and in the Pac 12. He blazed a similar trail at Northwestern, becoming the Big Ten's first black head coach.

Former Niner head coach Steve Mariucci coached against him at Cal and in the pros.

We are saddened over the loss of coach Dennis Green. Our thoughts are with his family.